[TV] Remakes for 'across the pond', do they work?

Seeing news that the US are planning to remake Only Fools And Horses for America. Has got me wondering

What does the UK do better than the US and vice versa?
What remakes are as good as the original? And are there any horrible remakes?
Can some programmes just not be remade for the other markets?

I've had a look at some and things like 'Are you being served?', 'Fawlty Towers' and 'Dad's Army' have been attempted, and the same with 'Only fools and Horses' i can't see the humor (and situations causing the humor) being transferred well into American. 'Dad's Army' concept can't work based in America, for example'. The reliant robin of 'Only fools and Horses' IS an iconic image of 'Only fools and Horses' and as such its hard to imagine if being changed, the car doesn't look like it can't work in America and a van will just lose an element of the programme, is there an American replacement?

'Carry On....' has any American's seen it, and if so your views on it and if you feel it can be copied?

Any American Crime series i can't see transferring well to the UK. The scale of any hunts and the whole gun culture just make them seem more interesting, than a pursuit around a council estate.

Three more well known ones i think are programms like 'The office', 'Skins', 'Shameless'

They tried to do an American Red Dwarf once. It was a complete and utter failure due to the fact they gutted most of what made it good to try and 'Appeal to the American audience'.

They've also done an American version of Top Gear, which I personally can't see working but each to their own.

I don't really think comedies transfer over well. Mindless stuff like the X-Factor and Pop-Idle goes across both ways however. Oh, and the X Country has Talent shows. But yeah, I can't see the likes of Have I got News for you or Never Mind the Buzzcocks working that well over in America.

Rarely, such as The Office, i prefer the US version of that, but pretty much everything else has failed. (Apart from Reality TV. But really, that is awful anyway)

Also, there's no way a US version of Only fools & Horses will work, what made it so special was how British it was. They'll completely gut it to try to make it appeal to the US audience, and ruin it in the process.

The Office you did so much better than us. In fairness though, I absolutely hate the English one. Really our comedy is different from yours, as a whole, things that us Brits find funny falls flat to an American audience and vice versa. I remember watching Green Wing (my favourite show ever) with a friend of mine who'd recently moved from the US, and he just sat there with an eyebrow raised and told me how shit it was at the end. Obviously that's no indication of culture, but you see my point - the vast majority of English people I've talked to about it loved it.

Edit: The US version of Fools and Horses won't go well. It wouldn't be funny if it wasn't exactly what it was. I keep hearing it listed as the UK's funniest sitcom. I don't really see it, but it is a good show.

no they never work well.
the likes of pop idol and the such are just talent shows and these have been around since the invention of the TV almost.

the likes of TV shows Americanisastion or Britificaton never ever work

Take a look at Law and order, The US versions are fantastic good storys and some good acting. yet the british version omg, I cant even force myself to watch it. The same with Prime suspect, Originally a UK Mini series with a really twisting storyline and some fantastic acting, yet the US version, Really ? Has nothing to do with any of the Prime suspect series and is simply cashing in on the title.

As for an america Only Fools and Horses ? I give it one season, and it will be cancled during the mid season break. I am sorry but Americans and Brits have different ideas of comedy. a Couple of dodgy wheeler dealers from london's east end doing what it takes to make ends meet just wont translate well. Lets face it, half the dealings delboy has done in his time would have him being shot in the US.

I prefered Torchwood UK compared to the new US one. Skins in UK is better, though i don't watch it anymore. Office i prefer US one. Top Gear in UK is 100000 x better than the US one. I heard rumours that Doctor who might be changing like Torchwood did where it went to some US company, if it does i'll be pissed.

I still watch way more US shows than English ones, and for the most part prefer them.

The Office, of course. Shameless as well (although i've never seen the UK version, but i love the US one).
The American version of Being Human started off pretty terribad, but since they've stopped trying to copy the UK one (which we could never top anyway) and started doing their own thing, it's gotten pretty decent.

I heard recently that a US remake of Misfits was coming down he pipe. I really hope that's not the case, because if we fuck up Misfits, I'm moving to the UK. lol

Remakes of any kind rarely work. The few I can think of work mainly because they go a totally different direction then the original. Anyone remember those first few episodes of the US Office where they tried to re-create events from the UK version? Painful. US Red Dwarf, IT Crowd, Skins, Life on Mars? Terrible. Now there are rumors of a US In-Betweeners and Misfits? It will never work.

Remakes of any kind rarely work. The few I can think of work mainly because they go a totally different direction then the original. Anyone remember those first few episodes of the US Office where they tried to re-create events from the UK version? Painful. US Red Dwarf, IT Crowd, Skins, Life on Mars? Terrible. Now there are rumors of a US In-Betweeners and Misfits? It will never work.

Did they actually try to remake The IT Crowd over here? I completely missed it if so (probably for the better).

most remakes do not work :\ the USA makes some excellent shows, but you guys are not very good at re-creating shows :P
what shows has the UK remade of US ones? and how did they turn out? :P

Originally Posted by endus

A thread about how hard it is being a white dude is not really a reasonable topic.

Originally Posted by Gabriel

You are assuming Cybran actually reads the articles he links.
I suspect he is actually some Soviet algorithm gone rogue, transmitting from some forgotten bunker, responding to keywords by googling them and adding "+bad" to the search query, and then just copy/pasting anything it comes across.